Those were not strikes. Yes, the end result was the same, and the pitcher may have gained a bit more confidence, but still, the point remains: Those were not strikes.

This isn’t the first time that a Little League All-Star game has been upstaged by an umpire working, shall we say, outside the bounds of his job guidelines. In this case, the optimal part of the phrase is “lines” from guidelines, as in the strike lines that the umpire drew in his own mind beyond the ones around the actual plate.

Let’s all hope this is as bad as it gets with the umpires around the Little League World Series in 2018. Heck, let’s hope this is as bad as it gets from here on out, forever. If this is just a warmup before the World Series, and we have more audacious calls to come, well, that’s just not right.